Daily Mail: One of the most compelling things about the fantasy genre is the sense it gives of other realities existing a mere hair’s breadth from our own – its practitioners constructing not only plots but entire worlds in which for them to unfold.
Foreign Devils is an especially adept example of this. It is also what one can only describe as an historical thriller set in the future, the premise being that the Ruman (yes, Ruman) Empire has neither declined nor fallen but harnessed a literally demonic form of weaponry known as Hellfire.
We accompany Livia and Secundus Cornelius, scions of one of Rume’s oldest and most powerful families, on a diplomatic mission to Kithai (a brilliantly wrought cultural landscape that perhaps bears the same relation to China as Rume does to Ancient Rome).
But who are the remote Autumn Lords who hold sway over Kithai? And are they as benevolent as they’re made out to be? You’ll have to read this brutal, beautiful tale to find out.
NPR: Made to Kill finds the common ground between [the hardboiled detective story and science fiction], and Christopher owns every inch of it . . . Made to Kill is the first installment of a planned trilogy, but it has all the potential of an open-ended series; knowing there are only two more Raymond Electromatic mysteries to come is the book’s only disappointment.
School Library Journal: Henry’s life is complicated. His previous boyfriend committed suicide without warning or explanation. His jerk brother’s girlfriend is pregnant. His nana has Alzheimer’s. And his new boyfriend refuses to acknowledge their relationship, instead humiliating and attacking him publicly. Henry is also haunted by questions about why his father left and if Henry himself is culpable. This is all further complicated by the fact that he is regularly abducted by aliens who drop him off naked in various locations throughout the city. The aliens offer Henry the opportunity to save the world from obliteration by simply pressing a red button. The catch? Henry isn’t so sure it’s worth saving. Hutchinson’s voice rings true. This work effectively combines the best of elements of Nick Burd’s The Vast Fields of Ordinary (Dial, 2009) with hints of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. VERDICT Angst-loving teens will devour this lengthy tome, yearning to see if Henry can consummate a new romance. Highly recommended.
B&N SF&F: The mystery consumed me. I haven’t had this experience reading, really, ever. I somehow forced myself to bed when I was about halfway through. I woke up at three in the morning and read all the way to the end, even my sleeping mind absolutely dying to see what was hiding behind Ren’s teetering wall of deflection and denial. Then I was devastated, sitting alone in my dark house.
Kirkus: “Don’t forget, it was their choice to get involved in this war”: Fantasian Bennett builds another world, convincingly, in which empires rise and fall and blood flows. Bennett clearly has fun doing all the scene-setting and complicating that his tale involves, and while in the end this is a warning against the totalitarian impulse, it makes all kinds of detours into the dark hearts of men—and women, too. Sometimes too talky but r
Tor.com: The end result is a series where each installment truly stands out and stands its individual ground as a wildly different sort of text, without ever losing the coherence and engagement of the project as a whole. […] It’s a fast read, compelling, that does interesting work with gender, politics, and human nature; it’s also got a strong plot, thorough research, and delightful characters. Highly recommended conclusion to a great set of books.
Publishers Weekly: Sometimes the most terrifying horrors are not those involving monsters out of fantasy but those taken straight from today’s headlines. Nijkamp’s debut follows four high school students on their first day of the spring semester in Opportunity, Ala. Over the course of 54 minutes—the amount of time a gunman holds their school hostage—their lives collide. Each of the four has an intimate connection to the shooter, and all must find a way to face the unfolding tragedy. While Claire views the event from outside the school, Autumn, Sylv, and Tomás are on the front lines. 
Publishers Weekly: